Safe Harbor by Radclyffe

Published in 2004, this is the first in a looooong series about an implausible sheriff. Our very own Long Tall Sheriff read this, and then selected other books in the series a while ago, but I’ve only just got round to them. (And I think we can see where our very own Sheriff got her nickname from?)

Our heroine is Reese, the new deputy sheriff in Provincetown, fresh out of the Marines, and totally self sufficient and disciplined. It turns out, despite being in her 30s, she’s also never had any sexual or romantic relationships because, you know, the Marines, and doesn’t really know if she’s gay or straight or can do or want relationships etc. Coincidentally, she is stunning (shocker!), and wildly competent, and does martial arts, and can cook, and wants to serve the community for all the right reasons, and is strong, and tender, and did we mention stunning?

Then there’s the local doctor. Heartbroken by a no-good cheatin’ surgeon (hisss!) she’s come to Provincetown to keep her head down, never fall in love again, and work really really hard, while limping on a leg that was broken in an accident while she was training to be an Olympic rower. OK. Provincetown is not the most obvious place to do that, but whatevs.

Do you think they’ll fall in love? Do you think Reese will be confused by what she’s experiencing and then amazingly natural in the bedroom? Will our doctor be able to overcome her fears?

The only thing our own Long Tall Sheriff remembered about this book was the very quick sex, in which they kinda brush past each other and, ooh, I came. That and the Sheriff whipping out her gun and moving into a crouch in one smooth stunning movement. (This image isn’t that wildly sexy in London, England, so it stood out as a bit odd, but I guess gun-totin’ Americans might like it?)

There is bit of plot around teaching a teenage girl martial arts and dealing with homophobic attacks, and Provincetown being a bit homophobic off-season, actually, which is interesting to read nearly 15 years later. We’ve come a long way baby. (“Did you say ‘come’? Sigh…“)

If you’re into this, then you’re in for a nice treat of lots of books. The Long Tall Sheriff’s approach to this series was to be a little bit into them, so she download the samples for each of them and read the little synopsis so she could keep up with major plot changes, and then she bought a few in the series that seemed promising. Your milage may vary.